Schism in the AKP?

Some very important people, in an unaccustomed manner for those in the Justice and Development Party (AKP) flank, have started expressing their discomfort either by making statements, through electronic messages on social media or just by reappearing in public after months of seclusion. While the main opposition social democrats were busy with the very important national problem of trying to figure out which deputy removed a portrait of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk - the founder of both modern Turkey and the Republican People's Party (CHP) - amid the routine of seeing scores of beloved sons in body bags, the media focused on a possible schism in the AKP.

Well, if the AKP has no serious contender and if it has become a political postulation that the threat of elected autocracy can only be brought to a halt by an implosion, serious dissent or a schism led by a serious, "reliable alternative leader," can there be anything abnormal with the public getting excited with such news? Still, while falling in love excites, energizes and instills fresh expectations in all mortals, no one should forget that Valentine's Day is a marketing invention of the capitalist economy. In the absence of some serious effort, love cannot be rehashed and the memories of past glories cannot help every cause.

Abdullah Gül's emergence from his secluded Istanbul residence, lunch with his successor in the presidency, Recep Tayyip Erdo?an, and coming together with some disgruntled former heavy guns of the AKP were of course important developments. However, it might be argued that he was in Ankara to check on the health of his parents, perform some other social obligations and meet with his old friend Erdo?an, as well as with Bülent Ar?nç, Hüseyin Çelik, Sadullah Ergin and Nihat Ergün. Who...